Two people died this week that have deeply influenced our generation and our parents’ generation. We were touched by these articles memorializing Howard Zinn and J.D. Salinger.
Howard Zinn was a leader in social justice during the Civil Rights era. He had convictions and stuck to them with stalwart integrity. His ideas have been criticized as hyper liberal, but his commitment to the working class was tantamount and informed his every word. He has left his legacy through his most famous work, The People’s History of the United States.
J.D. Salinger wrote the The Catcher in the Rye. The unlikely novel has become a classic, a rite of passage for adolescents. In one of the final chapters, skeptical and anti-social Holden Caulfield’s reveals his dream. I’ve quoted it below because it seems to exemplify what we are all trying to be: Catchers in the rye?
“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.”
At the risk of over-quoting, this is a tidbit that encourages me to no end. Mr. Antolini, one of Holden’s former teachers, is speaking:
“Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You’re by no means alone on that score, you’ll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You’ll learn from them – if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn’t education. It’s history. It’s poetry.” – J.D.S.
One of our own, Cameron Woodward, was deeply impacted by Zinn’s passing. He wanted to share his thoughts:
“If those in charge of our society – politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television – can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves.” -Howard Zinn
The word ‘revolution’ is adulterated and twisted by demagogues, printed on t-shirts sold at Wal-Mart, and often manipulated with empty rhetoric. Most people are undisciplined and afraid to live the life of a revolutionary. Howard Zinn was not like most people. Passion, intellectual clarity, moral courage, integrity, compassion, authenticity, and, revolutionary; these are the words that I use to portray Howard Zinn.
Zinn was a prolific Historian and Professor of Political Science at Boston University. He was the author of more than 20 books, including A People’s History of the United States. Zinn was a civil rights activist, civil liberties advocate and anti-war campaigner.
Howard Zinn was not safe – his thoughts and opinions are wildly controversial, misunderstood, and more than anything else – important. For years Zinn worked tirelessly to speak on behalf of the marginalized, dispossessed, and forgotten.
When I learned of Zinn’s death I was devastated, his contribution to humanity will be sincerely missed. He is survived by his daughter Mylat Kabat-Zinn, son Jeff Zinn, and five grandchildren.
The revolution will not be televised.
- C.W.
